Earlier this week, Career Edge Organization reached out to nearly eight thousand of its former interns to introduce a new initiative, the Alumni Network.

As part of our continuing efforts to give more to our stakeholders, we want the individuals who have gone through our program to know that we haven’t forgotten about them and that we have more to give.

Many of our Alumni have become Host Employers who now hire interns from us. We launched their careers and now they are doing the same for others. Our Alumni have also participated in past reunion events and mentoring programs. Due to the excellent level of engagement we saw, we have decided to offer more.

To kick things off, we made a call for volunteers to sit on a committee that will steer the direction of the programs and services we offer Alumni. I couldn’t believe the positive response we got and want to thank everyone so far who took the time to complete an application.

Among the interesting responses I received, several people asked this question: How can a career services organization have Alumni? So I did what anyone would do – I Googled the word Alumni.

As defined in most places, an alumnus can be a graduate of an educational institution or can refer to a former employee, member, participant or contributor. In our case I think any of those definitions can apply.

Our three programs give recent graduates and internationally qualified professionals their first relevant Canadian work experience. When they complete an internship they have advanced from one of the most important educational experiences of their lives.

A paid internship isn’t just a contract or a temporary job. Our partner employers provide a career-launching experience in a supportive learning environment. So when they complete their internships, in a way, they have graduated.

We don’t give them caps and gowns and we don’t play pomp and circumstance as they leave the office, but we know that our Alumni have advanced through a competitive process and we want to continue to celebrate their future successes.

“The future economic prosperity is in the hands of this generation,” according to Sonja Stockton, head of recruitment for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In an interview on their website, Stockton was addressing the global issue of rising youth unemployment.

A report released earlier this month by Community Foundations of Canada found that youth employment was declining faster than any other demographic.

Canada’s Vital Signs 2009 reports that the unemployment rate is 16.3 per cent for youth, around double the unemployment rate for the general population.

It’s no wonder Millennials have been dubbed “Generation Y Me?”

Stockton went on to say:

“It will not be a quick fix, but if we get it right, we could have a generation that has learned some of the hardest business lessons, quicker and more effectively than many of the generations in full time employment.”

Many of the perceptions about this generation of youth are false stereotypes perpetuated by studies that look at Gen Y as a homogenous group, not taking cultural diversity into account. Older studies on Gen Y may be obsolete now anyway, as the recession and current youth unemployment rates have a significant impact on attitudes and values about working in Canada.

In our upcoming posts, we will be using the blog to share insights about Generation Y from our recent study conducted with Porter Novelli and Angus Reid Strategies (click here to read the press release), so stay tuned!